Islamabad August 21 2024: The meeting of the Standing Committee on Information Technology of the National Assembly was held under the chairmanship of Syed Aminul Haq, in which Chairman PTA briefed the committee on the impact of internet services in the country and disruption of social media services.
During the meeting, questions were raised by the members on the slow speed of the Internet and it was said that ‘Tik Tok is sometimes stopped in the country, sometimes the Internet is slow, sometimes there is a firewall, what is happening regarding the Internet?’
Chairman PTA replied that ‘PTA has no role in the slowness of the Internet. Internet may be slow due to technical issues in the country. The web management system is being upgraded, not the firewall. According to me, system upgrade should not slow down the internet.
Standing Committee member and MQM leader Mustafa Kamal said that companies have issued instructions not to do business in Pakistan. From your briefing, it seems that there is no problem in Pakistan. Is it really the case that everything is fine in the country as noisy as it is?’
Chairman PTA said that the Internet is slow in the country due to the submarine cable being damaged. The submarine cable will be fixed by August 28.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader Umar Ayub questioned that if the web management system or firewall system affects social media accounts and content, then you will block it, but what will be its effects? Does the intelligence agency have the ability to intervene and block things on its own? To this, Chairman PTA replied that this system was introduced during your regime.
Chairman PTA said that ‘to tell you the truth, I have as much knowledge as you.’
